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Topic: Hewitt wants faster courts for the AO (Read 1418 times)

This article almost makes it sound like Hewitt is not happy the AO is not kissing his a$$ and asking him if he wouldlike breakfast in bed and oh yeah, faster courts at the AO. Apparently he thinks the US Open asked Andy and Agassi how they would like the courts customed to their game. Any truth to that, I highly doubt it. Otherwise Agassi would ask for something like the AO, especially to play against Sampras...

Maybe he was just in a bad mood when he was asked about it.

Quote

Hewitt, Australia's top-ranked tennis player at number three in the world, has never got beyond the fourth round.

He said: "It's the Australian Open's business how they want the court.

"I know the US Open would be going up to (Andy) Roddick and (Andre) Agassi and asking them what kind of surface they want and how quick they want it."

Hewitt, who won won the US Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002, added the Australian Open's courts were "probably a lot slower" than they were five years ago.

Aiming to become the first Australian to win the national title since Mark Edmondson in 1976, Hewitt insisted he did not feel any additional pressure to win his native tournament.

"Over the last few years the focus has just been on Mark Philippoussis and myself anyway.

"There's always going to be a lot of pressure, ever since I've probably started and especially since I've been at the top of the game, playing in your home Grand Slam, so there's not a whole lot I can do about that."

I think the reason Hewitt has never got past the R16 of the AO has more to do with a combination of unlucky draws e.g. Federer this year and home pressure than the speed of the surface. As for his comments about Sampras and Agassi influencing the choice of US Open surface, well, I don't know where Hewitt heard that from.

It still blows my mind that he doesn't do well on clay and these slower surfaces. His game to me seems like it is built for those surfaces. But in th end he has won the Big W and the US Open. Go figure.

It still blows my mind that he doesn't do well on clay and these slower surfaces. His game to me seems like it is built for those surfaces. But in th end he has won the Big W and the US Open. Go figure.

Yeah, you would think with his speed and consistency he would kill on clay but on the other hand, I can see why he doesn't do all that great on clay. He does surprisingly well on faster surface with his groundcourt game because it makes his serve more potent, and he doesn't hit with a lot of spin (compared to true clay courters). On faster courts his relatively flat strokes penetrate a lot more than those of clay courters, but on clay his flat strokes mean less consistency. Less consistency because his opponents get one or two, even three or four more balls than they would on a faster surface, and he's not THAT consistent.

Also, even though he's fast as heck, he's not really a natural mover on clay. He can't move with the same economy of motion of somebody who can slide on clay without effort, which means later into the draw he'll be more tired.

I do think the US Open considers what type of surface will benefit Andy and Agassi, or Sampras when he was playing. He might have a bit of a point on that one.

That's true. Hewitt has had great results on clay, namely that big Davis Cup win against Guga's in his prime at his hometown Florianapolis plus he's never really played that badly in the FO. He usually gets to the second week and gets outplayed by an experienced clay courter. Hewitt's shots are flat compared to those clay courters, and his footwork doesn't bode well with the dirt. At the same time, there are all these clay court specialists that have the same qualities as Hewitt but have the advantage because of their familiarity with the surface.